Virtual Community & the Public Sphere

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Transcript of Virtual Community & the Public Sphere

CommunityTraditionally a community has been defined as a group of interacting people interacting in a common location.Benedict Anderson"Imagined Communities" (1983)An imagined community is different from an actual community because it is not (and cannot be) based on everyday face-to-face interaction between its members. Instead, members hold in their minds a mental image of their affinity.Media takes Anderson’s notion of imagined communities further, disembedding it from geography.We share a sense of community through our consumption of media. Media, in a sense, creates community.Howard Rheingold"The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier" (1993)Rheingold defines a virtual community:Online media extends this sense in an even more dynamic way.When the tsunami struck Japan in 2011, some cellphone video footage was posted to the Internet. Think about the YouTube page for that video.The video's YouTube page is filled with commentary and public discussion of the event, how nations should respond, etc. The kind of communal discussion that formerly could only have happened in the same geographic location.e.g. nationhoodIn the mediated world, it no longer matters where you are. The self is removed from space. We can be members of communities that have nothing to do with our physical location.“A group of people who may or may not meet one another face-to-face, and who exchange words and ideas through computer mediated experiences. In cyberspace … we do everything people do when people get together, but we do it with words on computer screens, leaving our bodies behind.”Civil Society DemocracyThe fundamental architecture of the Internet is inherently democratic – a tool for perfectly open, equal access to unfettered communication.A democratic structure is not the same as a political democracy.“Civil society is the arena in which people come together to pursue the interests they hold in common – not for profit or the exercise of political power, but because they care enough about something to take collective action." - The World Bank, 2000Non-governmental and non-commercial activities and organizations.Closely related to the idea of the ‘public sphere’“The part of social life where citizens can exchange views on matters of importance to the common good, so that public opinion can be formed. This public sphere comes into being when people gather to discuss issues of social or political concern.”

Through acts of assembly and dialogue, the public sphere generates opinions and attitudes which serve to affirm or challenge - therefore, to guide - the affairs of state. Habermas defined the public sphere as a virtual or imaginary community which does not necessarily exist in any identifiable space. Civil society includes organisations like charities, NGOs, community groups, women's organisations, religious and professional organisations, trade unions, grassroots associations, social movements, clubs, business associations, coalitions and advocacy groups.The arena of voluntary collective action around shared interests, purposes and values separate from those of the state, family and commercial institutions.Cyberspace is the new public sphere.a vibrant public sphere and active civil society“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Lord Acton, 1887)(Sound familiar?)In this sense, the media is expected to serve as a critical part of the checks and balances that form a strong democracy.The institution of Journalism and the media as a ‘Fourth Estate’ rests on the idea that a primary function of the press (i.e. the media) is to act as a guardian of the public interest and as a watchdog on the activities of government.The public sphere is closely related to the notion of the “marketplace of ideas.”Based upon John Milton’s central argument for freedom of expression, which was that the individual is capable of using reason and distinguishing right from wrong, good from bad. In order to be able to exercise this reason correctly, the individual must have unlimited access to the ideas of his fellow men in “a free and open encounter.” From Milton’s writings developed the concept of the open marketplace of ideas, the idea that when people argue against each other the better argument will prevail.The concept of the “marketplace of ideas” holds that the truth or the best policy arises out of the competition of widely various ideas in free, transparent public discourse.Most modern liberal democracies in the world are founded upon the Enlightenment principle that states: “That government is best which governs least.” (Thomas Jefferson, 1781)The origins of the InternetThe first web pages and email programs didn't apear until 1991, with the invention of the www.And commercial activity on the Internet didn't begin untilYet for all this time, the Internet was mostly unknown in AsiaInternet usage was less than 1% for Vietnam until 2000.What are the implications of that for Asian nations?Democratic nations (like India, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore) depend strongly uponThe StateCommerceCivil SocietyThe Press & News MediaA Fourth EstateIt's even a challenge for Western nations.The Three EstatesThe simplest way to see civil society is as a "third sector," separate from government and business."intermediary institutions" that give voice to various groups in society and facilitate public participation in the affairs of state.professional associations, religious groups, labor unions, and citizen advocacy organizations,The 'social web' only appeared in 2001, with the first blogs.It's a lot easier to have common ideas, interests, experiences with others, when you don't have to be in the same place together.When the terrorist attacks struck the U.S. in 2001, people all around the world experienced it through many kinds of traditional media.Community: the shared sense of a common experience or interestsJurgen Habermas: "The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere" (1962)The Public SphereHabermas emphasizes the role of the public sphere as a way for citizens and groups within society to make their interests widely known.The public sphere was 'transformed' by the rise of mass media?Why?Because mass media are no good at creating conversationsOne-to-ManyThe free & open character of Internet was modeled upon the connection its creators saw between free, unrestricted speech and the democratic processIn democracies, citizens have a responsibility to participate in the process of government - guiding the affairs of state by discussing social and political matters and policy.They can only fulfill this obligation as citizens if they are: And the millions of conversations that make up the public sphere are where 'public opinion' comes from in a society.But without those conversations, public opinion is created from the top down (i.e. from mass media) instead of from the bottom up (i.e. from the people's discussions, i.e. the public sphere.)Civil Society is all of the VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS in society that exist independent of government and for-profit purposes -- as well as all of their activities, goals and objectives, and the means by which they communicate and organize themselves in society.The Public Sphere is all of the CONVERSATIONS about issues important to society that ordinary people have as well as the SPACES (physical and virtual) in which those conversations take place.The Internet has been crucial to the development of both of these phenomena in developed and developing nations.(1) autonomous individuals and (2) civic associations in relation to the state, (3) engaged in organized activities in a (4) public sphere outside the immediate control of the state but not entirely contained within the private sphere of the family.David Strand, 1993. ‘Civil society and public sphere in modern Chinese history’, in Roger V. des Forges, Luo Ning and Wu Yen-bo, eds, Chinese Democracy and the Crisis of 1989 (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, p. 54.ReferencesThese four elements are interrelated.public sphere functions with a critical public willing and able to hold government accountable for its actionssocial organizations function to protect or extend the interests of individual citizens, often in the form of organized protest or social movements;Individual and organizational autonomy are the basic conditions of public sphereThe concept of civil society has four basic elements:Why did Acton believe every class (i.e. everyone in a society) is unfit to govern?The result of this process is what's commonly called 'public opinion'?How does public opinion form?http://www.tealeafnation.com/2013/02/chinese-activist-web-users-take-aim-at-water-pollution-and-censors-strike-back/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-20117146http://stoptheeviction.info/take-action-now/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21047680Many-to-Many CommunicationVirtual Communityempowersmakes possibleThe Public SphereEmpowers Citizens and Civil Society OrganizationsIn your groups, examine Vietnam's public sphere:Try to identifyOne topic of conversation "relating to society" that's occurring in the public sphere right nowWould this have been possible before the Internet and the rise of virtual communities?What possible outcomes might happen from the formation of public opinion on this issue? How might public opinion "guide the affairs of state"?Where those conversations are happening onlineMany-to-Many Communication" The Internet is the first medium in history that has native support for groups and conversation at the same time. Whereas the phone gave us the one-to-one pattern, and television, radio, magazines, books, gave us the one-to-many pattern, the Internet gives us the many-to-many pattern. For the first time, media is natively good at supporting these kinds of conversations."Clay ShirkyWhy does this matter? The Internetwas created for Western purposes by people with very Western ideas.Most of what we will study this semester is a direct result of this new phenomenon.Many-to-Many CommunicationVirtual CommunityThe Online Public SphereThe Public SphereVirtual CommunitiesAre far more powerful and influential than traditional communitiesWhyIn his bookRemember: that wasn't an accident - it was by designHow about Miley Cyrus' twerking-filled performance at the VMS's a few weeks ago?If you watched that video on YouTube, what do you think you might see in the comments section of that page?That page is the site of an active virtual community. Not a permanent one, but virtual communities don't have to be permanent.Virtual Communities are not limited to social networkswebtrethoHAIvl.comwww.tinhte.vnkenh14.vnvietnamnet.vnAll these are virtual communities, but not social networks. But today we'll discuss how it has allowed the development of powerful new forms of COMMUNITY1) knowledgeable about all the possible ideas and opinions in society 2) can openly discuss and criticize government policy without fear.Why? Because in democratic nations a government's legitimacy derives from the will of the citizens, not from its own power.The Internet and digital technologies have empowered citizens and civil society organizations in those nations as well. But unlike in democracies, that's not always considered a good thing.But that doesn't mean there's no public sphere in them. Many Asian nations are not democracies.How do groups participate in the public sphere?Sometimes as random virtual communities of people who don't really know each other, but share a common interest or concern.But also commonly as organized groups that wish to actively influence public opinion and, therefore, government policy.http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2013/10/17/bangkok-meme-osphere-explodes-action-after-water-pipe-breakshttp://finished.wildaidchina.org/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/world/asia/china-says-no-more-shark-fin-soup-at-state-banquets.html?_r=2&http://bit.ly/1KyXeLV"Under the Dome"Animals Asia CampaignCoins for Australiahttp://bit.ly/1KyY8rShttp://bit.ly/1KyYtdThttp://bit.ly/1KyYAGxhttp://bit.ly/1KyZ2o6http://bit.ly/1FxqmN5http://nyti.ms/1E1lVtV